Forget Appliance Garages: There's A Better (& Easier) Way To Organize Appliances

It's easy to see why appliance garages have taken hold of modern kitchen design. These customized cabinets built into walls or countertops are designed to serve as a space where you can toss your numerous kitchen appliances all behind a garage-like door. They allow you to hide items away in a clever fashion, keeping your counter space clean and clear so you can perform your kitchen tasks unobstructed. However, there are several downsides to installing an appliance garage, and many homeowners are finding it much easier to install vertical shelving instead.

Don't get us wrong, appliance garages remain incredibly popular, and there are some really sleek designs you can incorporate into your kitchen to reduce clutter. However, a major downside to an appliance garage is that it can be expensive and potentially difficult to install. They need to be measured to fit the specific dimensions of your kitchen, and may need power wired to them if you want to have outlets to plug your devices into. For smaller or awkwardly shaped kitchens, this might not be a feasible option.

Vertical shelving, by contrast, offers you a lot more flexibility. Not only can the shelving be more affordable than a custom appliance garage, but you can shop around for those shelving units that work for your space. You can also place open shelving in front of preexisting outlets as opposed to wiring in new ones.

Vertical shelving is the perfect accompaniment to the unfitted kitchen trend that has recently taken over kitchen design. The idea behind an unfitted kitchen is to utilize free-standing furniture as opposed to built-ins. People are sourcing elements like Hoosier cabinets, hutches, and farm tables to create unique and highly personalized spaces that are suited to their tastes. Vertical shelving can be perfectly incorporated into this type of design.

Vertical shelving is also excellent to incorporate into pre-existing spaces, as previously mentioned. Depending on the type of space you have, you can either purchase an expandable shelving unit that can fit perfectly on a countertop, or purchase a full-sized, free-standing unit that can be placed in a corner. IKEA offers several affordable organization shelving options that you can incorporate into your kitchen, including the two-tiered NÅLBLECKA shelf or the freestanding HEJNE softwood shelving units. There are also OMAR metal shelving options if you prefer a more industrial style.

The chief downside to vertical shelving is that it could simply become an unorganized catch-all space that can't really be hidden away like an appliance garage. However, if you ensure your vertical shelving has a specific purpose and is only home to specific items, then the organization will sort itself out. Vertical shelving is also practical because it saves space and keeps your appliances well within reach instead of you needing to dig through an appliance garage to find them.